Pond barrow 30m north of The Cursus

A Scheduled Monument in Durrington, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1884 / 51°11'18"N

Longitude: -1.8086 / 1°48'30"W

OS Eastings: 413471.81785

OS Northings: 143258.855001

OS Grid: SU134432

Mapcode National: GBR 4ZV.KJN

Mapcode Global: VHB5B.LDQB

Entry Name: Pond barrow 30m north of The Cursus

Scheduled Date: 23 March 1995

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009074

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10405

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Durrington

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Durrington All Saints

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a pond barrow situated 30m north of the Cursus at its
eastern end. The barrow is now difficult to define on the ground being in an
area formerly disturbed by the construction of military buildings and recently
by cultivation. A 19th century fieldworker has mapped the barrow and from this
the overall diameter of the pond barrow has been calculated to be 25m.
The post and wire fence which crosses the monument from east to west is
excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath it is included.
Due to factors of scale the map extract may seem to imply that this barrow,
SM10405, and the Cursus adjoin, but they are in fact separate on the ground.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and the earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use.
In view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments
of this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified
as nationally important.

Pond barrows are ceremonial or funerary monuments of the Early to Middle
Bronze Age, most examples dating to between 1500 BC and 1000 BC. The term
`barrow' is something of a misnomer as, rather than a mound, they were
constructed as regular circular depressions with an embanked rim and,
occasionally an outer ditch or an entrance through the bank. Pond barrows
occur either in isolation or within round barrow cemeteries. Pond barrows are
the rarest form of round barrow, with about 60 examples recorded nationally
and a distribution largely confined to Wiltshire and Dorset, many of which are
in the Stonehenge area. As few examples have been excavated they have a
particularly high value for future study. Due to their rarity all identified
pond barrows will normally be considered to be of national importance.

The pond barrow 30m north of the Cursus survives in the form of buried
remains. It will contain archaeological deposits and environmental evidence
relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 225
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 169Other

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